Crewe boss David Artell rues referee’s decisions at Swindon

Crewe manager David Artell was left angry with the display of referee Lee Collins, despite the Alex securing a 2-1 away win at Swindon Town.

A first-half brace from Chris Porter secured maximum points for visitors Crewe, although Michael Doughty did get a goal back for Swindon midway through the second half, courtesy of a penalty.

The spot-kick was one of the decisions that Artell took issue with, but he was also fuming at a second-half Porter goal being chalked out for offside, denying the striker his hat-trick.

The final straw for the Alex boss came when Porter was pushed over in the box by Dion Conroy, but Porter was instead booked for diving, which led to vocal protests from Artell for which he was sent to the stands by Collins.

Artell said: “I thought we thoroughly deserved the victory. The referee made it hard for us but we got the three points and it was nothing more than we deserved really.

“There’s a three-goal swing. Their penalty’s not a penalty, Chris Porter’s not offside and gets brought down for a clear penalty.

“That’s three goals he’s cost us, and I get a red card for stating the obvious, I can’t question his integrity. I can’t say he took bribes.”

Porter struck Crewe into an early third-minute lead when he converted a Tommy Lowery cutback into an empty net for what was his 11th league goal of the season.

The second goal arrived just as the half was about to end, and it was a carbon copy of the earlier strike.

Again, Lowery surged down the right and played a low ball in towards Porter, who had the easy task of tapping in again to get number 12 for the campaign.

Doughty’s penalty in the 63rd minute got Swindon back into the game, but the Robins were second best pretty much throughout, which left Swindon chief Richie Wellens lamenting his side.

He said: “They thought it was going to be a nice Monday stroll in the sun, and if you start like that, you get your own medicine.

“If you don’t press then Crewe are going to look even better than they are. In the second half we improved but the start was nowhere near the level.

“My team’s too nice, and I’m not going to be nice, I am going to be ruthless.

“There’s going to be a big clear out in the summer. Some of the lads don’t want to be here, if you go out with that mentality, you get slapped on the bottom.